Retail technology innovation of the week: Uber Eats teams with Coco to bring robot delivery to EU
Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a series brought to you by RTIH, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers. Every week, we showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, building up to the publication of the 2026 report later this year.
And this week we’re focusing on Uber Eats which is bringing robot delivery to the EU. This week, Finland will become the first EU market where its customers can get their orders delivered by autonomous robots, starting in central Helsinki through a partnership with Coco Robotics. Customers matched with a robot can follow its journey in the Uber Eats app.
A spokesperson says: “We’re growing fast in Finland. We launched Uber Eats in May with three cities, and just three months later we’re adding eight more, bringing us to 11 cities and areas across the country. Helsinki is a particularly exciting place to take this next step: the robots have already been put through their paces on the city’s streets and in Finnish winter conditions. Now they’ll be delivering for Uber Eats alongside our existing courier network.”
And honourable mentions this week to...
Officeworks
Australian retailer Officeworks, part of the Wesfarmers group, has become the first retailer globally to activate Snapchat's suite of advertising formats directly within the Zitcha platform. This includes Sponsored Snaps, Snapchat's in-chat ad format that delivers full screen video or images directly into the Chat feed; Snap Ads (single image or video) to drive awareness, engagement, traffic and sales; and catalogue powered Dynamic Product Ads to blend storytelling with dynamic product discovery.
Officeworks kicked things off with a campaign for Microsoft to drive demand both online and in-store.
Andy Mossop, Chief Customer Officer at Officeworks, says: “We're focused on building a retail media network that creates value for everyone in the ecosystem, our customers, our suppliers and our business. That's why we're incredibly proud to partner with Zitcha and Snapchat to bring this innovative integration to life. As one of the first retailers globally to activate Snapchat through Zitcha, we're helping shape the future of retail media by connecting brands with audiences in more relevant and engaging ways.”
“Just as importantly, we're committed to delivering meaningful, measurable results for our suppliers. This work is a great example of what's possible when retailers, technology partners and brands come together with a shared focus on customer relevance and impact. We’re proud to provide a platform that delivers on this breadth of benefit to our supplier partners.”
Tesco
Last month we reported that Tesco was trialling Simbe’s Tally in-store shelf scanning robot.
Having kicked off with a single store, the pilot is now being extended to a small number of other locations. Thanks to Toby Pickard, Retail Futures Senior Partner at IGD, and a member of the judging panel for the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards, for bringing this to our attention.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: “I’ve now seen Simbe’s Tally robot in a third Tesco store in the UK - another store trialling autonomous inventory scanning. But this time, I had my son with me. His reaction was fascinating. He was completely intrigued by Tally: watching it move around the store, trying to work out what it was doing, and following it with the kind of curiosity only a child can bring to something that feels like it has just stepped out of the future.”
He added: “I’ve heard that in the US, some shoppers will even choose stores specifically because they have Tally, because their children love seeing the robot. Honestly, I can believe it. And it got me thinking…We often talk about retail automation in terms of efficiency, accuracy, labour productivity and ROI. But what happens when the technology itself becomes part of the customer experience? Could robots like Tally become something that customers - and especially children - actively want to see?”
Could, Pickard asked, the presence of robots change which stores people choose to visit? And perhaps more importantly: what happens when the next generation grows up thinking autonomous robots moving around a supermarket is completely normal? Will they see Tally as technology? Or simply as part of what a modern store is?
Pickard concluded: “There’s a fascinating intersection here between automation, operations, customer experience and the psychology of physical retail. I’m increasingly convinced that the question isn’t just, what can robots do for retailers? It’s also, what can robots make customers feel about the future of retail?”
